Engine 394 was a little country engine that worked the branch line
from Taddlecombe junction. Unlike the Big Black Engine Pride o' the
North and the Big Green Engine Beauty of the South that worked
the main line, it was thought too unimportant to be given a name.

One day it took the King and his entourage to London, and not a minute
late. The King said "This Little Red Engine is now a Main Line Engine.
You must give it a name and paint it on its side in gold. Call it Royal
Red. And add By Special Appointment."

"...It was not made up entirely out of my head. About twenty
years ago my nephew Johnnie was a little boy and when he came to
see me he always went straight to the drawer where I kept a little
tin, toy engine, a
rather old fashioned little engine which had something special about it
as some toys do. 1 still have it tho' the front wheels have come off. And
when I went to visit him 1 would sometimes put him to bed. and he liked
to have a story before 1 shut him down. By the side of his house in a deep
cutting runs a little branch line going from Newbury to Lambourn,
and it really is rather like the branch line of the stories although
the names are changed. and every time a train went by, and that was about
four times a day, it would whistle to tell the porter at Speen station
to shut the gate of the level crossing and it is still doing so today.
As soon as he heard the whistle, Johnny would run to the window or to the
wire fence and wave to the plume of smoke which is all you can see of the
train as it goes by. So you can see it was very natural that \ishould tell
him a story about the little tin, toy train he loved mixed up with the
real train which ran by his house. It is nearly always like that when you
write books. Even the fairy tales I have written for you when you are older
start off with some quite real thing even tho in the end it all goes different..."

Diana Ross talking to Australian children in 1956

"You must give it a nameand paint it on its sides in Gold"

The Little Red Engine gets a Name was first published by
Faber & Faber in 1942. It was illustrated by Jan Lewitt and George
Him, both notable graphic designers and for many years in partnership as
Lewitt-Him.
Subsequent titles, beginning with The Story of the Little Red Engine
were illustrated by Leslie Wood. The Little Red Engine series are
now being republished by André Deutsch in their Classic series.
The first titles being republished are: